True Happiness
by Clayton Overstreet
Summary: Tears...


I don't own these characters. Never claimed to. And am not making a dime off of it.  
  
  
  
True happiness: The perfect fan fic  
By, Clayton Overstreet and his muse  
  
  
  
Ryoko sat on the dock, absently twirling her toes in the cool lake water and watching the ripples. From behind her she heard footsteps on the wooden planks and felt a hand touch her shoulder. She looked up and saw Tenchi smiling down at her, "Ryoko, I think we need to talk."  
She blushed slightly. "If it's about that hole in the living room wall I'm sorry. Aeka and I had another fight and..." He shook his head, "No Ryoko, it's not about that; not exactly."  
He sat down next to her, letting his own feet dangle into the water. "I wanted to talk to you about... well about us actually." Ryoko raised and eyebrow and was about to ask what he meant when he held up his hand, "Please, let me finish before you say anything, OK?" Ryoko nodded still a little unsure of what was happening. Tenchi smiled gratefully and continued, "You know I love  
all of you. You're all family to me. Except you Ryoko. You're more than family to me. I honestly and truly think I love you. But..."  
Ryoko was shocked. Tenchi had just told her he loved her. It took her a second to realize just what had happened, "But what Tenchi?" He smiled and held her hand, "But you need to realize it too. You have to accept that I care about you Ryoko."   
Ryoko shook her head confused, "But Tenchi, I do care about you. I love you Tenchi."   
Tenchi nodded and squeezed her hand slightly. "I know you do Ryoko. That's not what I said. What you have to admit to yourself is that I love YOU." Tears fell from Ryoko's cheeks. Tenchi reached up and wiped them away. "I know you haven't exactly had a chance to love anyone before Ryoko and you aren't used to it. Neither am I. All the people I've ever loved have been family. And you didn't even have that before you came here."   
Ryoko took in a deep breath and hugged Tenchi close to her. Tenchi looked down, "I'm sorry Ryoko. I didn't tell you this to make you cry. I just wanted you to know that no matter what, I will always love you. I don't feel this way about anyone else. You have nothing to fight with Aeka over. Do you understand?" Ryoko nodded and sobbed lightly into his chest. Her tears   
leaving stains on his shirt. Then taking a deep and labored breath she pulled away. "Tenchi, can I tell you something?" Tenchi smiled and nodded, "Anything Ryoko." Ryoko bit her bottom lip and looked at him, "You can't tell this to anyone else OK? Washu and Ryo-ohki don't even know about this... or at least they didn't until now."   
Tenchi nodded, a concerned look on his face, "I promise Ryoko." Breathing slowly Ryoko turned back to the lake and looked off into the   
distance.  
"You were wrong about one thing Tenchi, I did once love before I met you. You know most of what Kagato did to me. The beatings, the mind games, and the raids he made me go on. But there was something he did that nobody else knows about." Tenchi listened intently, staring at Ryoko's unfocused eyes. "On one raid, I came across a frivet nest. Frivets are small little animals a lot like the mice on this world, only with six legs and neon blue fur. They are sentient   
and very friendly. There was one baby in the nest, and I could see the mother dead near by. I took the baby out and held it in my hand. Kagato had never actually said that I wasn't to have a pet, so I slipped it into my pocket and took it back with me. I never told Kagato about it though. For two years, I raised it. Gave it food from the scant rations Kagato allowed me. It slept on   
my pillow. After Kagato's beatings it would comfort me and cuddle up with me." The tears fell faster and more frequently down Ryoko's cheek.   
"I never did give it a name, afraid that somehow Kagato would pick it out of my mind. But through that whole time he was my one true friend. My family. Then one day Kagato came to my room. He told me he knew about the frivet and ordered me to bring it before him. I did as he asked, carrying it cuddled in my hands. It was shaking well aware of who Kagato was and what he was most likely going to do to it." Tenchi bit his lip in expectation of what was to come, but what Ryoko said next was worse than anything he imagined.   
"Kagato looked at him and petted him. Then turned to me and smiled. He said, 'Ryoko you shouldn't have kept this from me. This thing has been keeping you from fighting at your best. You need to learn what happens when you care about something enough that you no longer want to fight.' Then he ordered me to kill the frivet myself." Tenchi was in shock, "You mean he used his mind control like when he made you attack me?" Ryoko looked at him and slowly shook her head. "No Tenchi. This was worse than that. I was his then Tenchi. He owned me at that point. He told me exactly how to kill it. First by twisting off his legs, then by breaking his back. Finally as I reached to break his neck, the frivet looked up at me and nodded. He licked my finger and cuddled my hand just before I..." Ryoko leaned forward and sobbed, unable to continue. Tenchi wrapped his arms around her and held her close, letting her cry.   
Finally Ryoko's breathing became normal and she felt Tenchi holding her. "That was just before he sent me to attack Jurai. That's why Yosho was able to beat me, I didn't want to win. I let him chase me down. When he didn't kill me, instead sealing me away in the cave, I figured I would do the job for him. But I couldn't. No matter how much I let my body decay Yosho's damn machine kept me alive. So instead I left my body. I watched the centuries pass around me. Then one day a girl was born. She grew up around here, would come by a lot. I watched her, saw a young man court her. Then she left. One day she returned, with a small baby on her back. The baby saw me, smiled at me. It reminded me of my frivet, how he would react when I came back to my room.  
"As the boy grew, we played together at the shrine, but over time he lost the ability to see me. I didn't care. When his mother died, he came to the cave, to me, for comfort. I tried my best to hold him, to tell him it was all right. He couldn't see me though." Tears fell from Tenchi's eyes, a combination of pain from remembering his mother's dead, and sadness for Ryoko. "Then you came and freed me Tenchi. But when you saw me you were afraid, and you hurt me. It was too much. That was why I attacked you Tenchi. I had actually grown to believe what Kagato had said. I had to fight someone Tenchi. And when Aeka came and attacked it gave me the only way I had to fight someone I didn't care about."   
Tenchi held her and rubbed her hair, "Ryoko, Kagato was wrong. And he is dead. If he weren't at this point I'd make him wish he were for what he's done to you..." Ryoko put her fingers on his lips, "No Tenchi, no. You aren't like that. But if you want, I will do my best to change." Now it was Tenchi's turn to interrupt, "No Ryoko. I don't want you to change. You wouldn't be the girl I love if you did. I just want you to calm down a bit, and only fight when there is a reason. There is no reason for you to fight with Aeka anymore. I love you and   
nothing anyone will ever do will change that all right?"  
Ryoko smiled and nodded. Tenchi leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers, "Now about that hole in the living room..." Ryoko smiled and bit her lip, "OK Tenchi, Ill go see Washu about getting it fixed." She kissed him on the lips and teleported away.  
  
Author's note  
This is only a piece of what I actually wrote. I thought I'd see how it stood  
On it's own. For the full story check www.tmffa.com and if you liked this tell me what you thought at clayton_n@hotmail.com 


End file.
